Back to the Future
by AvataREX
Summary: I've noticed the prompt of "Oh since Korra is technically connected to all past lives will she be privy to intimate moments like ones between Aang and Katara?" At first I was like "ugh why prompt bad no like it". But...there's probably more to it than meets the eye. This will be explored in dreams. Will start out as more K and then eventually get into T waters.
1. Chapter 1

The city was burning a thousand different colors.

The colorful flames licked nefariously at buildings and walls, chasing down and enveloping whatever they could. After a while the scene of the city under fire gradually began to fuzz over at the edges. Before the return of the gritty gray haze one solitary streak of violet-blue lightning ripped across the sky. She smelled the electric sizzle before she felt the crack of the whip on her back-as hot as a branding iron but a thousand times more terrible. She felt herself begin the slow plummet down to earth.

A boy with a scar watched in horror as she fell. His scar flushed a pale scarlet in the green glow of the surrounding crystals. As the ground rushed in slow motion up toward her she could hear maniacal, choked, laughter. The laughter soon became a throaty, broken-hearted sobbing. She then saw a full moon, hung heavily like a suspended orb, through a high prison window. The last thing she saw was a weak blue flame quivering unsteadily in the complete darkness.

Korra awoke covered in a thin sheen of cold sweat. She was trembling slightly, but not nearly as badly as she would have expected. It was barely dawn as the sky was only beginning to turn pink. Korra sat up, pushing aside her warm sleeping furs and held her head in her hands. Since she had returned home to the Southern Water Tribe she had been having such nightmarish visions with dismal regularity. Apparently a familiar environment and the comforts of home did nothing to ward off these unwilling sojourns into these netherworlds. It had gotten to the point where Korra was no longer sure if these were just nightmares. The quality of these…journeys…or whatever they were was a little too sharp and a little too historic to be just the stuff of dreams.

Or at least Tenzin had thought so when Korra finally brought the issue up. He had taken the matter very seriously and meditated the entire next day on it. Tenzin believed that these visions came during sleep because Korra was most susceptible to overtures from other realms when unguarded. Korra thought that it had made sense.

The connection she had made with Avatar Aang a few months back had been a very fortuitous one. It felt otherworldly, but real, and most of all it had felt divine. It might have had something to do with the fact that she had had her bending restored to her, but that was another matter entirely. These more recent trips into the spirit world had taken on a darker tone and stood in stark contrast against Aang's first visit.

Korra finally decided that there was no point whatsoever in going back to sleep. She stretched and picked herself up to begin the day. She had nothing to fear under the sun. Nightfall, however, would bring something else.


	2. Chapter 2

A woman with dark flowing hair and long burgundy robes brushed past in the narrow hallway. Korra's heart pounded wildly in her chest as she glimpsed the ghost of a shy smile. Stopping in her tracks, she turned to gaze at her passerby with captivated interest. The woman in the robes continued walking down the torch-lit corridor with her head angled ever so slightly downward and hands demurely clasped in front of her. Korra watched her continue along and finally disappear around the corner. She remained in place, with only the flickering lights and the distant quacking of turtle ducks to keep her company. The warm night hovered encouragingly around her. She found the urge to follow the woman nearly impossible to resist.

Korra gazed wistfully down the corridor, still firmly planted in the same spot. The light summer wind twisted through her own floor length robes as she wondered at the fleeting encounter.

Though she had never met the woman before there was something oddly familiar about her. For instance, Korra was fairly certain that the woman had light amber eyes which lit up whenever she smiled. And that when she laughed and threw her head back her hair would cascade like waves of mercury down her back. Or that her cheeks would flush a gentle plum the split second before they would kiss. The last thing Korra would see before closing her eyes to kiss her bride would be a young Fire Lord to her left smiling though with a somewhat solemn gleam in his eyes.

An especially loud turtle duck quack brought her back to the present moment. She glanced around self-consciously, smoothed her robes, and squared her shoulders. It was time to get moving. A young man of her station must do everything possible to maintain a dignified image-especially one so well acquainted with the crown prince of the Fire Nation. She continued down the corridor to attend to whatever business was at hand.

Korra was again arrested mid stride by the sudden jarring realization that she had just thought of herself as a young man. And she certainly wasn't on a first name basis with any Fire Lords to the best of her knowledge (General Iroh, though noble, was a soldier, after all). And pining for that mesmerizing woman…really? Well, that was surely something she didn't want Tenzin to know about. She scratched her head, without noticing its arrangement in a high and rather masculine bun instead of her usual wolftails, and gazed out into the night at the gazebo by the pond. Fireflies rhythmically glowed in the night and a nearby owl hooted ominously.

Before too long a darker, more ethereal blackness began to slowly swallow the scene in front of her. The fires from the torches dimmed and Korra felt herself slipping away. It had been nice seeing the woman, whoever she was. Korra drifted off into a cocoon of unknowing feeling warm and content. This state was only slightly disrupted when the sound of an erupting volcano began rumbling in her ears while a lone red dragon drifted through the sky.


	3. Chapter 3

The Antarctic wind whistled shrilly outside. Tent flaps wildly snapped back and forth in the wind. Fires were just starting to be lit and the smoky smell of meat soon filled the early evening air. Night was falling.

The past few nights hadn't been the most restful by any means. There was nothing to suggest that tonight would be any different. The day had been for the most part relatively uneventful. Most of it was spent draped across Naga while idly watching the others weave new sleeping mats for the upcoming warmer months. Her stomach lurched at the onset of nightfall. It wasn't anxiety really…it was more of a guarded anticipation. There was something a little dull about the waking hours nowadays. Korra was finding something magical, exhilarating, and maybe even a little sad about her nightly trips to spirit world. She watched the moon begin its steady ascent with muted expectance. Perhaps tonight she would again see the lovely Fire Nation woman whom she'd glimpsed a few nights ago. Perhaps Korra would watch, heart nearly bursting, as the woman cautiously approached a glimmering red dragon for the first time.

Well that wouldn't be happening. Not tonight at least. When she came to on the other side she was momentarily crestfallen to find that she was still in the South Pole. Had she not fallen asleep? What in tarnation was going? For Agni's sake she even recognized the village clearing it was where all the ceremonies took place and…it looked a little different tonight.

There were lanterns strung up as far as the eye could see. They glowed a warm gold and were beautiful in the twilight, swaying gently in a salty sea breeze. People milled about cordially, most holding lanterns and nodding politely to one another as they crossed paths. The atmosphere was quietly celebratory; this was none other than the New Moon Celebration. Korra's heart leapt as she took in her surroundings. This squarely confirmed that Korra had yet again entered the spirit world, for the next New Moon Celebration was not due for another seven months in real time.

An especially delicate looking lantern caught her eye as it hung unobtrusively from a nearby rafter. Striding forward to secure it for herself she reached up a long arm to unfasten it. It was only after she had already attached the lantern to a little pole that it struck her as even remotely odd that she had been able to reach the rafter of a shed. Korra wasn't an especially tall person and under normal circumstances would not have been able to reach the lantern without at least some airbending. Though she hadn't airbended a moment ago she didn't think…

She looked down at her massive gloved hands. They weren't hers but at the same time they were undoubtedly hers. She had known them all her life, just as she had come to know her massive stature. In this nebulous other world it made no matter that Korra was closely resembling her father in both volume and mass. With a light shrug of the shoulders she was off again, strutting toward a crowd that had gathered in the center of the square around a large bonfire.

The people parted to make way for Avatar Kuruk. Some gently dipped their heads in reverence while others (younger folk mainly) simply gawked and stared. The girls bit back their smiles and coquettishly averted their eyes as the avatar swaggered past them. Korra, or Kuruk, or whoever he/she was remained completely unbothered. This type of reaction was just standard fare at this point. The girls were just an added bonus. Or maybe the added bonus was the ability to bend all four elements sometimes all at once. Eh, it was a toss up between the two really. The pressing issue at the present moment was where the delicious smell of roasted tiger seal was coming from. Korra took advantage of her novel height advantage to scan over the crowd for any promising leads. Just as she was about to investigate a certain food vendor a flash of blue topaz caught her by surprise.

Only this time it wasn't lightning shot by a shadowy figure in a cave. Korra stared slack jawed into eyes not unlike her own. She felt like a buffalo yak caught in the headlights as the girl from across the bonfire smiled at her. She felt a small smile etch its away across her own lips as she maintained eye contact with the girl. This time Korra gave in to the feeling and began to saunter over. You only live once, she thought giddily, as her strong heart pulsed thickly in her ribcage. Or maybe in their case more than once.

Others watched as Avatar Kuruk introduced himself to Ummi the new girl in town. It wasn't like him to grant attention to his groupies but perhaps this one was different somehow. The lanterns glowed cheerfully as the sky continued to darken into mature night.

….

Tears streamed freely down rough cheeks as Korra sprinted up the rocky mountain face toward yet another cave. Not being able to bend in the spirit world was an enormous handicap. But Korra could not process her fatigue, only rage- an indescribable, burning, heartbroken rage. She stopped finally to catch her breath and clutch at her strained knees upon arriving at the mouth of the cave. Gasping for air, she sobbed uncontrollably for a few lonely moments. No longer able to bear it a second longer and without a backward glance she rushed forward into the consuming darkness.

The cave was rank, humid, and anciently evil. It reeked predominantly of tragedy and sorrow.

"Koh! Show yourself you coward!" Korra roared savagely into the darkness. Her call echoed out metallically, disrupting the crawling silence of the cave.

"Come to have one last look, Avatar Kuruk?" The reply came back slyly soft and matter of fact. The voice was unmistakably noxious and deeply wicked.

Fresh tears had begun to flow, rushing through the tangle of a newly unkempt beard. Anger and profound sadness gripped Korra's entire being as she turned to leap at and slash down the faceless spirit.

She kept on falling, however, and her spear wouldn't find purchase. She flailed wildly, twisting and growling in the shadows until again unknowing took over.

Korra awoke violently and with a terrible headache. Her entire body shook as she cried into her hands. She finally rose and stumbled through the heavy flap of her tent. The cold air hit with her such force that she choked and almost pitched face forward onto the icy ground. The moon had reached her lonely peak in the barren black sky. Sorrow blossomed within Korra like a jasmine flower unfurling in all of its lovely distress.


End file.
